U.S. stock funds lose inflows as stock rally continues

FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. investors ended their longest buying streak since October by pulling money out of domestic stock mutual fund and exchange-traded funds last week on global concerns about economic growth in Europe, according to Investment Company Institute data released on Wednesday.

Overall, U.S. investors pulled a net $2.64 billion out of domestic stock funds during the week ended March 6, after pumping in a net of $4 billion the week before.

The shift pushed total net outflows from U.S. stock funds to $13.5 billion over the nine full weeks of 2019 so far, despite a broad market rally that has pushed the benchmark S&P 500 index up 12.3 percent for the year to date.

World stock funds lost a net of $1.13 billion for the week. For the year to date, investors have sent a net of $8.5 billion into stocks outside of the U.S. market.

Both taxable and municipal bond funds continued to attract net inflows, of $6.05 billion combined, for the week. That was about half of the inflows the week before.

Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and Richard Chang